


I’m Just a Memory

by Ono_ohyes



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:54:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24356140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ono_ohyes/pseuds/Ono_ohyes
Summary: ***Season 5 Spoiler Alert***One sentence saved the world. But some groundwork had to be laid for it first...
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	I’m Just a Memory

**Author's Note:**

> This is an expansion of a scene from Part One of the series finale. You should definitely watch that first.

I know that the security systems are going full bore, which is why I’m not surprised to suddenly be wading through underbrush. It doesn’t take long before I break free, leaving the trees behind for the swath of grass that runs to the edge of the cliff. I can see the valley below, a view I’ve seen countless times. It’s like the whole world is stretching out beneath me.

This scene is recreated from my memory, but I don’t remember the woman standing at the cliff’s edge. It doesn’t matter though; I recognize her immediately. She’s younger than I am, just barely out of childhood, but she looks just like me. She is me, after a fashion. Younger, and smaller, but me.

She-Ra.

I walk up behind her. If she’s here, does that mean I’ve failed? I try to say something, something that breaks the silence, but she beats me to it.

“I’m going to save Etheria, no matter what it takes.” She turns and looks at me, her eyes full of determination… and fear. “You’re sacrifice won’t be in vain, I promise.”

My face is stone. But my heart is breaking. My sacrifice… so I must not have succeeded. She’s She-Ra, just like me, a warrior, the key to a terrible weapon. A weapon herself, charged with all the power of the First Ones. It is all I can do not to start sobbing, but I finally manage to say something.

“But at what cost?” I haven’t met her gaze yet, but now I turn and look at her. “I didn’t want to die. I sacrificed myself so you wouldn’t have to.” It’s an excuse; I can see the failsafe suspended over her chest, a silent mocking indictment. She is clearly stronger than I am. She is on her way into the belly of the beast; I am fleeing it.

“Why are you doing this, Adora?” She’s struggling, but determined. I’m pretty sure I know the answer before she says it.

“It’s better this way. My friends will be safe. They’ll be happy.” I cup her face in my hand.

“And you? What do you want when this is all over?” My question takes her by surprise, I think. 

“I…” She stumbles for a moment, then her determination wells up again, and I have a realization. Her words confirm it. “It doesn’t matter. I’m She-Ra. This is what I’m supposed to do.”

She thinks she’s doomed. Worse, she thinks she’s alone, but she’s not. Even now I can sense someone else in the tunnels, her friends coming to help her.

Wait, how do I know that? The answer is obvious once I ask myself the question. I’m not really here, I’m just a projection formed out of the real Mara’s memories, archived a thousand years ago by Light Hope. The Heart is using me to prevent its own destruction.

I won’t let it.

There’s a glitch in the simulation as something alien forces its way in. I don’t know what it is, and I can’t stop it, but Adora can, with the right motivation.

There’s so much I want to tell her. I want to tell her that she’s wrong, that She-Ra isn’t sacrifice, although she is called on to sacrifice much. That She-Ra is love. Love for all things, love for Etheria and everything on it. Love is what keeps us from just being another weapon of conquest. Love is why I ripped the planet into another dimension, stealing away the stars for a thousand years, safe and secluded. I couldn’t stop the threat, but I could protect us from it, and I did, even though it cost my life. And I see her now, my successor, barely more than a child, so full of love and yet so convinced that she’s not worthy of being loved herself. I know what she’s planning to do, and the cost she’s willing to pay. I don’t need to tell her all that, though. She already knows. She just needs a little push in the right direction, and I think I know what it is.

I take her hands, and look deep into her eyes, the same deep blue as mine. Her thoughts are as open to me as mine were to Light Hope; I feel guilty about using them in this way, but it’s the only choice.

“You’re worth more than what you can give to other people. You deserve love, too.” I can see my words hit home, even as they war with Adora’s own self-image. Hope and fear are evident on her face as the simulation continues to glitch; my time is running out. I’d better make it quick.

“You’re so close, Adora. Don’t give up yet.” I’m almost crying, and my voice is thick with emotion, but I think I’m getting through to her. The simulation freezes as I finish my sentence; it’s the last one I’ll ever say, but it was enough. 

I’m frozen, partially derezzed, but can still hear, still see, as the ancient enemy of my people appears. Adora is defiant, even though she’s scared of him, and my heart swells because I know that she is going to defeat him. Even though he appears to have the upper hand, I know he is doomed to fail.

He touches me, and my form derezzes completely. But in that final second of consciousness, I know how this will end, and that gives me peace.


End file.
